quiksilver down 10% in a week, page-12

Done plenty of research smp71. Have you ever bought a pair of boardies? Seems not! You mock me for saying boardies cost $90 a pair. Which brands have you bought? What did they cost? What sort of material are they made from? You blew any cred you may of had by mocking me. I have seen boardies in surf shops from $50 to $110. My favourites are a pair of Quicksilver with the diamond pattern inside to stop chaffing, didn't get much change out of a $100 on those.Do you surf, skate or actually participate in any outdoor activity? Sorry Billabong are global, that means their brand can't die? The point is some quality brands have dissappeared or are shadows of them former selves.

And yes i'm serious, Rivers were an expensive clothing line, went out of fashion and now is mass produced cheap clothing. Billabong aren't immune to changes in fashion and trends and percieved value. What happened to Colorado or Fletcher Jones or Onkaparinga or many other expensive labels? People's perceptions change, the brand suffers damage and they never regain their former glory.

smp71, do some research yourself. Take a look at many prestige brands across any product range and many of them are unable to charge the premium they once could and are no longer built to the quality that they once were. The consumer is in the driver's seat, not the corporates. The consumer is demanding more and more for less. There are many household names, Australian grown too, who's margins have shrunk and their products are made to a lesser quality to compete with cheaper imports. So much so , that their name does not represent quality anymore and they are just another mass produced product in a shop. Cars, clothing, whitegoods, power tools, general tools, browngoods. The list goes on. To think that Billabong are immune because they are "Global" is folly. There has been a considerably shift in recent years and many people are settling for more generic products, if it saves them a buck. Fashion and trends change and mighty quick too, in my day Lee jeans were pretty popular, can't say I see anyone wear them now. Not seeing kids riding the streets on their Repco dragsters. Oh and what was that car that was really popular? was it a Falcon or something? I could list brand after brand that were huge in the day and have dissappeared. By the way, I love Billabong boardies but their T-shirts, along with many other surf brand Tees are over-priced rubbish. And Hang Ten used to be a brand that people wanted, they might not have been global but they were a victim of changing fashion trends. I have lost dough on BBG and hope they survive, the point is trends change and companies need to adapt to the trend or face their demise. I have worked in sales and marketing for over 30 years and seen many icons come and go, point is no brand is immune.